Estate Tax

Estate Tax Distributions to all Governmental Units
for Settlement Periods during Calendar Year 1997

The Tax Commissioner administers Ohio's estate tax, but the
tax is locally collected by the treasurer of the county in
which the decedent resided. Payment by the estate
administrator is due no later than nine months from the date
of the decedent's death. After the semi-annual settlements,
each county remits 36 percent of the tax collection to the
state, less various administration fees. The remaining
portion is distributed to local jurisdictions based on the
percentage of estate assets held there.

Total estate taxes distributed to all local entities amounted
to $183.5 million in calendar year 1997, excluding
distributions for Erie and Hancock counties. Three counties
show only part-year distributions (reflecting only one estate
tax settlement). They are: Butler, Ottawa and Stark. The
amount remitted to the state was $107.8 million in 1997. The
local distributions range from a high of $14.8 million in the
City of Cincinnati, Hamilton County, to a low of ($33,867) in
Nelson Township, Portage County.

When an estate has property in more than one county, the
county that the return was filed in must distribute the taxes
due to those jurisdictions outside of that county. In
reporting, most counties cite each jurisdiction outside of
their county along with the amount distributed to them. Some
counties, however, just make an "outside-of-county" entry and
do not specifically list these jurisdictions. This type of
entry is accounted for and labeled "unidentified" at the end
of this table.

The figures shown are compiled from a survey of county
auditors conducted by the Ohio Department of Taxation.